Being emotionally healthy is like owning a well-running car. If your vehicle is taken care of, you can get through construction zones, traffic and bumpy dirt roads with no trouble. If your car is a run-down old clunker, you won't be able to rely on it to get you where you are going on your terms. This comparison also holds true for a well-functioning brain. A good therapist is like your brain's mechanic. Here are 10 signs that indicate a professional might be of some help in tuning up your life:

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has recently taken over the Iraqi cities of Mosul and Baiji, the second of which is the home of Iraq's largest oil refinery. The accompanying infographic shows the development of ISIS and its most recent attacks. ISIS pledges allegiance to al-Qaida, and as ABC News reports, it is proving to be the undoing of the United States' decadelong efforts to establish democracy in the embattled country. With the country's oil supply at risk, will the West intervene again? Is the fight against terrorism becoming a lost cause?

Back when I was working on my master's degree, a professor in an administration class I was taking told us that if we didn't observe and understand what was going on around us politically, we wouldn't be effective administrators. I remember wondering what politics had to do with working with students, but I was young and naïve back then. What I have learned since then is that professor was 100 percent right.

• What a boon the S.C. Equine Park has been for Camden and Kershaw County! And now, with word that a second, larger covered arena will be built -- possibly as soon as this winter -- the park should ultimately bring even more people to the area than it already does. Think on this: even with the arena already in place, the equine park has been booked an average of 30 weekends each year, with an economic impact of $4 million. Imagine if, with the second arena, the park could be booked 45 or even 50 weekends each year. How much would ...

Last week, I called for going after ISIL (or ISIS or IS, the Islamic State as it wants to call itself now), in full force. Admittedly, I wasn't very specific about that. Some may have thought I meant "boots on the ground," as opposed to only the air strikes the U.S. has already participated in.